Gemma Ferregel and her 10-year-old son, Ryder, drowned after a boat capsized in Manukau Harbour; Ryder’s body was never recovered. Composite image / NZME / Supplied
Ten-year-old Ryder Ferregel was wearing a lifejacket when he went out on an ill-fated scalloping trip – but it was ill-fitting and riding up, so he was allowed to take it off.
It was a fatal decision.
None of the five people on the 4.8m Haines Signature boat was wearing a lifejacket when it was struck by two waves in short succession and capsized in Auckland’s Manukau Harbour a short time later.
By the end of the day, after hours of clinging to the overturned hull and even after reaching the relative safety of a sandbar, Ryder and his mother, Gemma Ferregel, had drowned.
Today, a coroner has released her findings into their deaths with a call for a single, “nationally consistent” rule making it compulsory for people to wear lifejackets when out in small boats.
If Ryder and Gemma had been wearing lifejackets, “their chances of surviving after the boat capsized would have significantly increased”, Coroner Erin Woolley said.
The Clarks Beach boating tragedy happened on Sunday, November 6, 2022.
Gemma’s partner, and the boat’s owner and skipper, Kevin McQuire, later pleaded guilty to two charges of manslaughter stemming from what a judge called his “she’ll be right attitude” and safety failings on the day.
There weren’t enough lifejackets on the boat for everyone on board. McQuire did not check the weather forecast. Conditions worsened. His boat, named Deez Nuts, had never had a working marine radio in all the 10 years he had owned it.
When the boat capsized, phones were trapped in a pocket under the upturned hull. They had no way to call for help.
All of the adults on board had been drinking the alcohol McQuire had put on to the boat, although none were drunk.
In her findings, Coroner Woolley zeroed in on the need for more public education campaigns emphasising the “dangers of complacency” and the need for taking personal responsibility for water safety.
She also directed that her findings be sent to Maritime New Zealand, and that it should consider the need for a consistent rule or law on lifejacket use for the whole country.
Maritime rules require that all vessels must carry enough appropriately-sized lifejackets for every person on board.
However, the requirement to wear them differs from region to region and it is not compulsory to do so across the whole country.
In Auckland, where the tragedy occurred, council bylaws say lifejackets should be worn on boats under 6m in length, unless the skipper believes it is safe to not wear one.
In contrast, bylaws in the Waikato region make it compulsory for all people in a boat under 6m to wear a lifejacket at all times.
In the Deez Nuts tragedy, none of the five on board – Ryder and four adults – was wearing a lifejacket at the time the boat turned over.
After the boat capsized, Ryder was initially trapped under it until rescued by one of the adults.
All five remained clinging to the upturned boat for four to five hours before two of the adults swam off to get help. It took them about two and a half hours to reach the shore.
Ryder, his mother and McQuire eventually drifted on to a sandbar, where they could walk along the bottom and appeared relatively safe at that time.
They walked along the sandbar, with Ryder on McQuire’s back.
However, when the sandbar fell away abruptly, they dropped into deep water and Ryder and Gemma were unable to stay afloat any longer.
Gemma was recovered when rescuers reached the scene but could not be resuscitated. Ryder’s body was never found despite a search that continued for 15 days.
McQuire, who as the boat’s skipper was legally responsible for the safety of the others, was sentenced to six months of community detention on the manslaughter charges.
Coroner Woolley said data from Water Safety NZ showed that over the decade from 2010 to 2019, lifejackets were not worn in about two-thirds of drownings.
“Wearing a lifejacket is one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent drowning fatalities,” she said.
“It is crucial to normalise lifejacket use in New Zealand, so that all Kiwis undertaking boating activities make the conscious choice to wear one,” the coroner said.
McQuire declined to comment when contacted by NZME.
Ryder’s father, Newton Ferregel, also said he did not want to say anything about the coroner’s findings, but in an interview two years ago he said lifejackets should be compulsory.
“It should be mandatory to wear lifejackets and you should always notify a Coastguard or someone to let them know when you are going out, so if you’re not home by a certain time people can start looking for you,” he said at the time.
“No one knew they were out there.”
Newton Ferregel described his son as a “loving, cheeky character”.
“He was an outdoorsy kid who was always on the go. He loved his motocross and was good at digger driving.
“You would never see him on a computer, he was always outside and by my side helping me.”
Matt Wood, Maritime NZ’s principal adviser for recreational craft, said this was a “heartbreaking and preventable tragedy”.
“Not wearing a lifejacket, no way to call for help, ignoring the marine forecast, and alcohol use are the known common causes that contribute to recreational boating deaths in New Zealand – and they are avoidable.”
Wood said most regions required lifejackets on boats under 6m while they are moving on the water, and nationally they had to be worn in heightened risk situations.
“That rule applied in this case,” he said.
“Our message to every boatie is simple: follow the Boating Safety Code every time you head out. That means wearing a lifejacket every time you’re on the water.”
Maritime NZ said it invested $700,000 in safety education last year.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.